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AFRICA HAS no dearth of singers, especially female to perform for the World Cup. To name a few: Amani from Kenya is one of the biggest female singing sensations of Africa and had been nominated for several awards. Siphokazi is one of the most popular Mzansi singer. Ary from Angola and Zamajobe from the host country South Africa - the soulful jazzy singer, and Lira from the same place who had an awesome 2009, as she picked up four South African Music Awards. The organisers skipped over all these prominent names and picked up Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll for Waka Waka which she will perform at World Cup closing on Sunday (July 11). The singer called herself the ‘Daughter of Africa.’ There had been resentment in the African continent since it was picked by FIFA as the anthem for the tournament over a host of black performers. However, with her million dollar smile and affable manners she won everyone’s heart. The fairy-faced Colombian made a touching statement- “I feel an umbilical cord ties her with Africa.” She struck a sympathetic chord. She made another very diplomatically sentimental statement, “South Africa has enormous power in its people. At this World Cup, the fans of this country have reflected the tolerance shown by Mandela.”
No more hard feelings!
Shakira is a regular fixture at the World Cup. After her ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ performance ahead of the 2006 World Cup in Berlin, this will be her second performance at the football extravaganza. Shakira revealed that she hit upon Waka Waka during her stay at her farm in Uruguay. “I was walking to the house from the barn and it suddenly came to me. I first recorded it with just the guitar and it sounded well,” she said. “The FIFA concert was one of the most emotional experiences of my career. This has been one of the happiest months in my life.”
Just as all children are born with the potential to learn to speak and understand their native language, all children are born with the potential to learn, to perform and to understand their culture’s music.
Shakira means ‘woman of grace’ in Arabic. She gives credits to her father’s Lebanese heritage for her Middle Eastern-influenced dance moves. “I think it is something in my DNA. I have been belly-dancing since I was four.”
The beautiful singer had had her share of tragedies also. Her half brother was killed when a drunk driver hits the motorcycle he was riding. Just two at the time, the singer says that her first memory is learning of his death. “It made me very necrophobic. For a long time I feared death in all its aspects.
Unlike others, she wrote or co-wrote nearly all of her own songs and in the process gained a reputation of a poetic lyricist. When she released her first English lyric in late 2001, she became an instant pop sensation.
She was born on February 2, 1977, in Barranquilla, Colombia, into a poor family. Her mother was a native Colombian and her father was of Lebanese descent. Shakira imbibed up music from both cultures. She also listened and learned studiously English-language rock and roll. She had written her first song at age eight and learned guitar at the age of 11. In 1990, at the age of 13, she moved to Bogotá to pursue the modeling career, but ended at singing with Sony’s Colombian division. Her 1991 debut album, Magia (Magic), was comprised of songs she’d written over the past five or six years, including some of her earliest efforts. The magic of her voice kept the world spell bound.
To cut it short, wait till evening for her Waka Waka.
